Unpleasant neighbours

[taperface]

All my neighbours are getting on in years, with grown-up families who've now left home. They've made our lives a misery (children moaned at if they play outside and make a noise, etc.). Because of this, I now ignore them, as trying to befriend them only resulted in open hostility. My children are good ones, but today they rode up & down on their bikes. One particularly venomous person threatened to report us to the Council for being a nuisance. I can't see how this can be, but am now feeling stressed out. I'm a Council tenant, which makes it worse. Where do i stand?

[loonytunes]

Everyone has the right to quiet enjoyment of their property, regardless of whether its a council or private house. If your kids are playing out, making a noise or riding bikes up and down the road, this can be annoying to people who don't want to hear them. They and you do not have the right to annoy other people. Older people have had a lifetime of bringing up their own kids and most make sure they act properly and respectfully to other people. When they are off their hands, they don't wnat to be confronted by kids who they see are not being controlled properly. You say your children are good but have you checked on their behaviour when they are outside your view or hearing? Why give your neighbours the chance to complain? Just get your kids to be quiet.

[Ethel]

I assume the children were riding the pushbikes on pavements, which as you know is an offence.

That aside, this can be a real problem if you are not as agile as you once were, and a hearing problem compounds it, as you cannot hear them coming up behind you.

Is it just one set of neighbours you have problems with?

[doglets]

When i was a child i wasnt even allowed to push my pram on a sunday because it spueaked and might annoy people. I remember sitting on the pavement outside my house and being mowed down by a bike (ie there wernt many cars then).
When i learnt to ride a bike about 9 years old it wasnt just on a road but going up a hill. Now i have tinitus and if i hear a noise it is normally on the opposite side, so if i jumped l would jump the wrong way and your children could knock me down. In the park , on the paths , the cyclists think that you should get out of their way, old and young alike instead of going around you as they overtake. Also on the pavements, they come from behind you and you dont hear them coming. When i cycle behind people where i shouldnt alley ways etc., i go slow just in case sombody is near and if so and if they havnt heard me and turned around, then i get off my bike and say excuse me please, thankyou very much. Doesnt hurt to be polite.

[Explorer-8]

When I was a boy up to about 10 years old, I used to ride a bike on the pavement like all young children and it was accepted because younger children can't ride on the roads. Teenagers have always been expected to ride on the road. These days we shouldn't complain about children riding bikes on the path when so many adults, especially young, aggressive men, ride blatantly on the footpath, usually too fast and nothing is done about them.